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Arts Playlist: Wilmington artist's website keeps kids engaged in the arts

Delaware Public Media
A Wilmington abstract artist is continuing her work to teach kids to see the world as artists.

Parents seeking a creative, engaging outlet for kids as they spend days learning at home could find a Wilmington artist’s online studio art program useful.

 

In this week’s Arts Playlist, Delaware Public Media’s Kelli Steelechats with Ellen Priest about her "Eyeball It" website and her own work.

Priest began working on “Eyeball It” in the early 1990’s as an outlet for children whose arts programs were being cut in schools:

“Over the years I have done a lot of teaching and I find that kids just thrive on being able to build a visual language for themselves and have a voice,” said Priest.

Priest says the website finally went live in 2014 - offering users of read-along recordings, videos and various other projects - all for free.

 

“There’s a lot of ways to use this.And at the moment, the most relevant is that any parent can get on the website and do serious arts projects with their kids," said Priest. "And it doesn't have to involve a huge amount of time on the part of the parent.”

 
Priest says directions for lessons come as a printable PDF which helps reinforce reading skills for children, which can be critical now that most children have already been out of school for several weeks due to the Coronavirus pandemic.

 

 

Kelli Steele has over 30 years of experience covering news in Delaware, Baltimore, Winchester, Virginia, Phoenix, Arizona and San Diego, California.